Is it a toaster? Is it a pill on wheels? No, it’s Zoox’s funny robotaxi, the latest fully autonomous vehicle to hit the streets of California.
Zoox’s autonomous vehicles began rolling out this week in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood and are expected to compete with robotaxis designed by Waymo, which began offering rides to the public in San Francisco and Los Angeles earlier this year.
But not yet. For now, Zoox’s driverless trips around SoMa will be for testing and research purposes only.
“Since 2017, our test fleet has autonomously navigated the streets of San Francisco with a safety driver,” Zoox CEO Aicha Evans said in a statement. “Now that we have followed all critical safety measures, we are excited to begin testing our robotaxi in this wonderful city.”
The Amazon-owned company has also begun testing its driverless vehicles near its headquarters in Foster City, Calif., and around the Las Vegas Strip.
The autonomous vehicle is boarded by sliding doors.
(Zoox)
If all goes well, the goal is to start inviting the public on board next year.
The design of the Zoox vehicle, like its name, is resolutely futuristic. The pill-shaped vehicle is essentially a giant cabin on wheels, featuring two spacious bench seats facing each other and no center or driver’s seat.
“For us, a better commute meant creating a living room-like environment where social connections remain intact and daily activities are uninterrupted. It had to be face-to-face,” Chris Stoffel, the studio’s director of engineering, said in a statement about the four-seat design.
Zoox vehicles were custom-built for autonomous driving and feature no traditional hand controls, not even a steering wheel. Waymo, on the other hand, uses commercially available Jaguar I-Pace SUVs equipped with sensors.
During the day, Zoox drivers can observe the sky through the sunroof, while at night the ceiling is illuminated by small twinkling lights like a starry sky.
But not everyone views the development of self-driving cars as a heavenly delight.
In February, a mob invaded a Waymo car in San Francisco’s Chinatown, scribbling graffiti, smashing the windows and setting the vehicle on fire.
Tensions around self-driving cars had already risen after a driverless cruiser, owned by General Motors, hit a woman in downtown San Francisco and dragged her 20 feet down the street in October 2023 This incident prompted state regulators to temporarily revoke the authorization. company’s license, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open an investigation and Cruise to recall all of its vehicles.
In November 2023, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called on state regulators to increase their oversight of companies that operate autonomous vehicles.
This year, Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) introduced a bill that would have allowed cities and counties to set their own regulations regarding autonomous vehicles. Although the bill passed the Senate, Cortese later withdrew it after the Assembly Transportation Committee introduced major amendments.
In this context of public unease, Zoox emphasizes to San Franciscans that it has prepared for this new deployment.
“We have rigorously tested and validated our AI stack in multiple cities over the past seven years in preparation for deploying our robotaxi fleet,” Jesse Levinson, co-founder and chief technology officer, said in a statement.
The company also touts safety features, including six different types of airbags, sensors that it says prevent the car from starting until everyone is buckled in, and software designed to avoid collisions.
